Tuesday, September 27, 2011

New 52 - Comic Review

Nothing is more instantly conducive to enjoying a book than
seeing Jim Lee’s art. The man always picks a great angle, fills in with
gorgeous detail, and tells the visual story elements so well. I don’t know if
there’s anyone better. He’s prerogative on how characters should look, obviously
done with a respect for them, even imbuing minor ones with slick esthetics,
really creates a cohesive universe where I like every part of it.

Starring my two favorite members of the Justice League?
Thank you. I’ve never really liked the Justice League because they were all too
chummy, too obsessed with “what’s right”, and to be fair in the fight scenes,
all anybody ever did was punch. All fixed. The dialogue is pretty exposition heavy,
but it’s all done in character (I don’t think Batman would ever give free
Intell to a non-trusted source, but that’s minor and I got over it fast) and,
more importantly, is done while these guys are actually doing something. The
whole story flies along like one would figure a story with superpowered
(Metahuman in the DC Universe) people would vault from one great action moment
to another. There are single sentences hinting at how the new DC Universe is
going to play, and I love picking up the clues bit by bit. Metahumans aren’t
trusted, Superman is on top of everyone’s list of suspicious people, and it feels
very much like the League won’t be warmly accepted by humanity nor be the lovey
family they were.

Green Lantern is cocky and poorly informed. It’s forgiven
since he’s fun, both as a foil to Batman and in general just a decent guy
enjoying his power. “You can do anything? Shit yeah man, just walk in there and
go for it then”. Batman, my absolute favorite character. I think he’s always
had hints of it, but it was infrequent that Batman was sarcastic. It’s needed
here else Batman because everyone’s punching bag for lame jokes about how he
never speaks. I love him. I can easily see him being the center of the League.
He’s lively here, not the stoic Knight of the past.

The costumes weren’t a major departure. Now they seem to be
actual armor, which helps me take the characters a bit more seriously. For
liking comics as much as I do, I’ve always hated spandex costumes. The costume
should reflect the personality of the wearer and some gaudy colors was a
shallow way to do that. The ever stupid outside underwear has thankfully been
removed. Overall style and distinction between the heroes is still there. Superman’s,
in particular, impressed me. Significant change for him. It just looks good.
Jim Lee is the man. And Superman came out strong. With Batman’s warning and his
overwhelming entrance, I actually liked him. He felt a bit scary. As he should.
The setup for next issue hooked me. I can’t wait for it.

Batman didn’t grab me like Justice League did. Up until the
mid-point it was same as usual. The Batcave had all the same silly treasures,
meaning Batman has the same silly past. The Villain team-up, even given the
content that they were all breaking out of Arkham, just felt stale. Nothing in
any of their personalities would ever allow them to form a team. And they’re
already set in their ways and caught?
Aw… I’ll admit that Clayface’s “Professor Pig” costume got me. I came
into this book expecting anything so points to Snyder and Capullo for having
fun with it. I was dreading hearing anything about that new villain. Biggest
trick by far was Dick Grayson’s. The thrill of coming up with a reason for that
to be true made that gag work twice over. Worth buying the book for alone.

Bruce Wayne picks up more from how the “old” DC ended. Using
Bruce’s persona to attack problems in Gotham on two fronts in place of the
playboy pretending not be anything special. I loved the use of a portable
Batcave (will it be called “Oracle”?). One, another joke. Yeah it’s old but
when formally uptight Bruce Wayne does it, it’s funny all over again. Before
Batman was interesting to read for the mystery, and I loved the dark theme, but
now he’s enjoyable too. Like Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, it’s a great just
to spend time with Bruce, whatever he’s doing.

All big changes saved the end. I’m not taking what’s
suggested at face value, but that’s enough of a twist to get me for issue 2.

Sidenote: it finally struck me as odd for Batman to be
dragging a cape through a crime scene. Maybe that thing should retract? But at
the cost of his evocative silhouette? I don’t know.

Ugh, terrible from the first text box. Piss-poor writing
throughout. None of it made sense. It opens with Mr. Slade Wilson Deathstroke
The Terminator standing a good few dozen feet from a group of badguys. Badguy Leader
is using taunts ripped out of bad 90s movies. Deathstroke says “nut-uh” with a
close-up of his glowing eye. SPLASH PAGE! He’s somehow in the middle of the
group, from one jump, and they’re all dead… All of the splash pages either are
a huge disconnect from what just happened or highlight how little physics has
to do with Slade’s universe, such as when he ziplines with a zipline that isn’t
connect to a point. Maybe his doohickey was motorized? The rational seems to be
“he’s a badass”.

An incredible stupid team of killer teens was introduced to
illustrate how the “anything goes environment” of DC can yield terrible jokes.
Deathstroke has a man set-up jobs for him who is the complete opposite of Slade’s
personality. He acts like a hype man but annoying. Offers Slade a job with no
details, Slade says no, then cuts a fly in half with a paper-clip, then says
yes. Splash Page!

Then it all ends. I reflect back that nothing
really happened. Justice League fit so many different set pieces and story
elements in. Deathstroke’s updated costume is, again armored, and looks good. I
had trouble taking him seriously with his old boots and clown like ghillie
suit, much as I liked the character. The ending promised Deathstroke doing
nothing important for the foreseeable future. Perhaps this series is for the
old DC fan who didn’t see anything wrong with the way things were. I’ll mourn
for poor Slade Wilson.